Conventional interior door handle assemblies for motor vehicles include a release lever by which the door latch mechanism may be released to permit the door to be opened and a locking lever by which the door latch mechanism may be locked from inside the vehicle. Typically, the release lever and locking lever are connected independently to the door latch mechanism.
In accordance with EP 0169644, it has been proposed to connect both the release lever and the locking lever to the door latch mechanism by a single push/pull cable. This is achieved by moving the cable in one direction from a normally latched position, to lock the latch mechanism and moving the cable in the opposite direction to release the latch mechanism. With the mechanism disclosed in this specification, actuation of the release lever when the latch mechanism is locked, will unlock and release the latch mechanism in one operation.
While this form of operation is may be desirable in certain circumstances, for the rear interior door handles particularly, two separate operations are preferred to unlock and then release the latch mechanism.
In accordance with GB 2,199,363 and GB 2,267,116, the latch mechanism is locked by movement of the release lever from the normal latched position in the direction opposite to the direction of movement to release the latch mechanism. The release lever is held in the locked position by detent means and must be released by actuation of a button, which will unlock the latch mechanism before the release lever can be actuated to release the latch mechanism so that the door may be opened. While these mechanisms are plausible for rear interior door handles, they are not easily adapted to provide unlocking and release of the latch mechanism in a single operation, which may be used for front interior door handles and rear interior door handles where desired.